Workin'

Sorry for the dearth of posts this week. I have been extremely busy. I am picking up a lot more odd jobs as spring kicks in and people need help with their yards and such. I had two cleaning jobs on Sunday (one routine, one extra). Monday I spent planting bushes and trimming privet for ten bucks an hour. Tuesday I had another routine cleaning job and then I spent the rest of the day on another yard job. Over four hours of trimming hedges and pampas grass. But I got paid well –both in money and cookies, so I’ve got no complaints. Yesterday I had two more yard jobs –one big, one small, and then I had to go into my actual PRN job in the evening. Today I get to work on the floors here and then go back to work this evening.

I am, to put it mildly, bushed. And I still am not earning enough to support myself. (But I’ve made a lot more this week than I would have if I’d have kept the retail job.) Well, I would be if I did not have to support this house but I haven’t been able to unload it. I either have to soon, or I’m going to lose it because I can’t make the payments any longer. They haven’t really gone up, but my income has gone down since losing my last ‘real’ job. I haven’t been able to find another roommate.

Tomorrow I’m going over to my temporary farm to clean up and get my lettuce mixes planted. That is going to be great, and a giant step forward. I have found several tracts of land I would like to buy, and they are all between $5,000 and $6,000. I don’t have that much, obviously, and no bank is going to give me a mortgage so it will (obviously) have to wait. But it is nice to dream.

Retail Hell is Over

I had to give up the retail job. The job itself wasn't bad; boring and mind-numbing, yes (not to mention useless) but not bad. It was mostly folding and hanging clothes. I don't mind doing that. But it was a part-time job for $7 an hour, and after hiring me, knowing I did other work, they decided to mess with my schedule to see how badly I wanted the job. Not that bad, thank you very much. I needed that money in addition to, not instead of, my other income. I'm no worse off than I was before -just still not making enough money to support myself, but it was that way without the job too. I have an extra cleaning job this weekend and a line on some other work, so I'll be okay. I'll even be up a hundred bucks when my check comes in.

The sad thing is, I make more when I spend two hours cleaning a house than I did working a full-shift there.

H.R. 875, Climate Change, and Retail Hell

Okay, back to your regularly scheduled programming. Comments and questions on the story are still welcome, however.

First, more info on H.R. 875:
The sponsor's campaign contributions. Guess who's #1. http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/pacs.php?cycle=2008&cid=N00000615.

A good summary of the bill. http://cryptogon.com/?p=7362

Now, climate change. Around here it is fairly normal for it to get into the 60s throughout March. Early spring and all that. The 70s are pushing it. The 80s are way too much.

It was 85 when I left work yesterday, and 83 the day before. Climate change, anyone? Yes, it's all ready cooling back down, but still.

My new job is not going well, to say the least. It's a retail job. At the mall. The words 'retail hell' don't do it adequate justice. It can't be a good sign when you'd rather shoot yourself than go back to work. Oh, I'll go back all right. I need the money too bad not to. But it is pretty awful. I feel all of a sudden like I'm part of the problem again instead of part of the solution. But until I get my land I can't farm or write full-time.
To make matters worse, my manager has scheduled me for at least one day and time I specifically told her I could not work due to a prior committment when I got the job. When I mentioned this to her, all she said was "I'll see what I can do." I'm afraid we may end up in a Mexican stand-off: how bad do I want this job? Bad enough to give up everything that matters to me and jump everytime they say jump?
I do not make a very good corporate automaton.

I can't help but think retail hell and climate change may be related. Oh, that's right, it's because they are!

Just Enough To Pay The Rent

One of my friends is 72. She’s retired, and lives off a fixed income. It’s not much, but she keeps her expenses down and is able to make it. She also runs a small used bookstore at a local artist collective. She rents half of a stall for her store and only sales a handful of books every week. (She brings in much more than that though, so she’ll soon be out of room!) Most people wouldn’t keep going. It wouldn’t be worth it to them if they weren’t making any money. However, she’s not in it to make money. She does it just because she enjoys it. She says that her only goal “is to make enough money to pay the rent”. And she does, though sometimes just barely. It’s funny to watch her after she’s made the rent and a little extra. She’ll leave her stall when she doesn’t have any customers and wander through the market, chatting with and patronizing other artists. She’s not afraid of people stealing her merchandise; she says that anyone who would steal a book needs it more than she does!

I’ve been thinking about her a lot lately. My thoughts have been along the lines of what the world would be like if more people had her view. What if everyone only cared about making enough to meet their expenses, and a little bit more? What if there wasn’t all of this greed, all of this striving to accumulate the most stuff and the most money, regardless of the costs to others? What if we all did something just because we enjoyed it? I can’t help but imagine a world like that.

I think it might just be a much better place.